兩篇關於勞動市場表現之論文

Abstract

本論文分兩篇，第一篇探討個人能力對於勞動市場表現的影響，第二篇探討基本工資調漲對於薪資、就業，以至於所得分配的影響。 第一篇摘要如下。文獻上對於個人能力的討論區分為認知能力與非認知能力。近年來，非認知能力的討論益得重視，不過，由於界定不易，研究多有爭議。本研究提出以大學入學考試成績來界定認知與非認知能力的方式，該方法不僅建立在行為觀察的基礎上，同時也可標準化考生表現與其行為動機。考生若參加推薦甄選或申請入學者，需有學力測驗成績；若其未成功推甄或申請上大學，須再參加指定考試。該類考生在其兩項考試間的表現差異，可視為其對於挫折的承受能力。這項能力與情緒管理、動機強弱、自制能力等非認知能力有關。同時，本研究以其學力測驗表現作為認知能力指標。此外，透過各項行政資料的輔助，本研究進而考慮家庭背景對能力之影響，以及能力對於就業選擇之影響，藉以釐清能力直接對於應試者26歲至30歲薪資與就業之影響。本研究發現，隨著年齡增長，對於挫折的承受力對進入私部門或公部門就業有逐步增長的直接正向影響，但對薪資無直接影響。相對的，認知能力對薪資有直接正面影響，對是否成為公務員跟挫折承受力有相似影響，但對於是否進入私部門就業無顯著影響。該結果顯示，與挫折承受力相關之非認知能力，較認知能力更能影響就業，但認知能力較能影響薪資。此外，是否成為基本工資者與上述兩種能力無明顯直接關聯，相較之下，家庭背景更具有解釋能力。 第二篇摘要如下。有別於過往文獻僅能以薪資分配數據驗證最低工資對薪資分配之影響，本論文以台灣月別的勞工保險與就業保險投保資料，驗證2007年本國基本工資調漲於個人與廠商層次所帶來的薪資、就業，以至於所得分配效果。透過完整的個人投保薪資紀錄，本研究得以直接區分出直接與間接受到基本工資影響者，補足過往文獻對於實際受最低工資影響者之評估的不足，並首次以斷點迴歸估計方式，降低過往文獻以設置控制組進行估計所產生的諸般研究爭議。本研究發現，在2007年基本工資調漲後，原薪資低於調漲後基本工資者之薪資提升，就業也微幅增加；原薪資微幅高於調漲後基本工資者之就業雖提升，但其薪資調漲受到壓抑。在同時考量就業與薪資效果下，前者整體所得提升，後者所得無顯著改變。該結果顯示，該次基本工資調漲並未產生外溢效果，即未發生基本工資調高也促使較高薪資者所得提升的現象。同時，本研究也發現，就業提升並非源於離職降低，而是源於新聘員工的增加。因此，廠商的獨買力較勞動市場摩擦，更能解釋台灣基本工資調漲對於就業的正面影響。此外，本研究也發現基本工資調漲導致企業內的職災率顯著提升，這對未直接受基本工資影響者形成負面的「外溢效果」。

This dissertation includes two essays. The first one is “Does Failure Tolerance Benefit People's Labor Market Outcomes? Evidence from Taiwan Joint College Entrance Examination.” The second one is “Employment, Wage, and Inequality Effects from A Minimum Wage Increase: Evidence from Monthly Personnel Administrative Data of Taiwan.” The abstract of the first essay is as follows. Dealing with the difficulty of measuring non-cognitive skills, this study proposes a novel approach based on the particularity of the joint college entrance examination in Taiwan. Examinees who apply to a school but fail in their application need to take two tests, one is for the application and the other is for the final distribution. The performance difference between the two tests is proposed to be the measure of the tolerance for frustration, which is a skill related to examinees' emotional management, motivation, and perseverance after they experience a big frustration. This approach is not only based on an observed behavior but also meets the need of a standardized task. By taking advantage of several administrative personnel data, this study takes into consideration of factors behind the skills and the mechanisms after the skills to estimate the influence from skills on the cohorts' labor market outcome at ages 26 to 30. The results show that there is an increasing direct influence of frustration tolerance on employment in the private or public sector by age, but no direct effect on wages or being a minimum wage worker. While cognitive skills have a higher influence on wages, they have similar effects on being a civil servant, but no effect on employment in the private sector. The abstract of the second essay is as follows. Different from previous studies using the wage distribution, this study uses monthly personnel administrative data of Taiwan to provide the firm-level and individual-level evidences to pin down the minimum wage effect on the earning inequality. Considering all the controversial settings in the minimum wage literature, including the methodology and the studied target, this study proposes a novel approach that uses the regression discontinuity design to estimate both employment and wage effects on firms and specific workers of different wage groups. The results show that workers bound by the minimum wage have their employment and wages increased, while workers with slightly higher wages than the new minimum also have their employment increased but their wages are lowered than they could be if there was no policy change. As a combining result of the employment and wage effects, the bound workers have their real earnings increased, while the unbound workers have no significant change. Hence, it proves that the minimum wage effect has no spillovers on the earning inequality. Furthermore, the increased employment of the bound workers is not because of less employment flow, but more new hirings, which matches the expectation of the monopsony model rather than the search frictions. Finally, I also find a negative 'spillover' due to the reduced workplace safety after the minimum wage increase.